Europe, Middle East, Africa

Jo Taylor

Senior Managing Director, International (London)

Jo is responsible for our international operations in London and Hong Kong including the management and oversight of the full cycle of origination, analysis, execution, value creation and eventual realization of investments in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific.

Jo joined Ontario Teachers' in 2012 and has over 30 years of investment experience, including more than 20 years with 3i Group plc, an international private equity and infrastructure investor. There he held a number of senior Group Management roles and was most recently the CEO of their US subsidiary. At Ontario Teachers' he is a member of the Investment Committees for our activities with private companies. He also works closely with the investment teams operating in the international offices to set strategy, manage key relationships, and oversee the allocation of resources. Jo is currently Chairman of Camelot and a non-executive director at SGN, Helly Hansen and Burton's Biscuits.

Jo holds an MBA from Manchester Business School and a BA (Honours) from London University.

Charles Thomazi

Managing Director, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) (London)

Charles Thomazi leads the Europe, Middle East and Africa Infrastructure team, with responsibility for identifying, executing and managing infrastructure assets. He has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services sector and has been actively involved in infrastructure since 2001. Charles has worked across many sectors, including leading the acquisition of Ontario Teachers' airport assets, High Speed 1 and Koole Terminals and Westerleigh.

Charles currently serves on the boards of Brussels Airport, Copenhagen Airports and Westerleigh. He joined Ontario Teachers' Finance Group in 1995, then moved to the Research and Economics Group before becoming a founding member of Ontario Teachers' Infrastructure Group in 2001. Prior to joining Ontario Teachers', Charles worked as an Actuarial Specialist at Towers Perrin (now Towers Watson).

Charles holds a B.Sc. (Honours) in Actuarial Science from Western University. He is a CFA charterholder and a graduate of the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Jean-Charles Douin

Director, Europe, Middle East and Africa (London)

Jean-Charles Douin joined the London office for Private Capital in 2008. He has been involved in the buyouts of Acorn Care & Education, Busy Bees, Burton's Biscuits and Helly Hansen and the investments in ISS and OGF. Jean-Charles serves on the boards of Burton's Biscuits, Busy Bees, Helly Hansen and OGF and looks after the consumer & retail as well as healthcare sectors for Europe.

Previously, Jean-Charles worked at CapVest, a pan-European mid-cap private equity fund active in the food, consumer goods and healthcare sectors, and UBS Investment Bank, where he focused on M&A deals in the consumer and retail sectors.

Jean-Charles earned a master's degree and diploma from Ecoles des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC), in Paris; followed by the MBA program from University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver.

Maggie Fanari

Director, Relationship Investing (London)

Maggie Fanari has been with Ontario Teachers' since 2006 and was based in Toronto until May 2015. She is now based in London and heads the Relationship Investing team's direct equities investments for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. She has structured and executed on large-scale, partnership-driven minority investments in both public and private companies in multiple sectors globally. Maggie started her career as an auditor at KPMG and has previously worked in equity research in Scotia Capital.

Maggie is a Chartered Accountant and a CFA charterholder. She also holds a BBA from the Schulich School of Business, York University.

Joe Topley

Director (London)

Joe Topley joined the London office in 2016 and is responsible for private equity funds in the EMEA region.

Joe previously worked at StepStone, a global private markets advisory firm where he was responsible for business development, investment research and client management across Europe. He started his career as a management consultant and worked in private equity and investment banking prior to joining StepStone.

Joe holds a B.Sc. in Molecular Biology from Imperial College, London; a Postgraduate Diploma in Economics from University College, London; and an MBA from INSEAD.

Jamie Adam

Senior Principal (London)

Jamie Adam joined Ontario Teachers' in 2006 and is a member of the Europe, Middle East and Africa Infrastructure team. He was involved in numerous transactions including the acquisitions of Essbio, Brussels Airport, Copenhagen Airports, Sydney Desalination Plant, London City Airport and Westerleigh Group. Jamie currently sits on the boards of Bristol Airport, London City Airport and Westerleigh Group. Before joining Ontario Teachers' he worked in private equity in Toronto.

Jamie earned a BA (Honours) in Political Science from Western University and an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University. He is a CFA Charterholder and a graduate of the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Fabrice Chesnais

Senior Principal (London)

Fabrice Chesnais joined the London office of Private Capital in 2016, and has a decade of industry experience in private equity and investment banking. Fabrice currently sits on the board of OGF.

Prior to joining Ontario Teachers', Fabrice worked at Lion Capital, a private equity fund investing in consumer and retail brands. Before that, he worked in the acquisition & leveraged finance team at J.P. Morgan.

Fabrice earned a Master's degree from ESCP Europe, having studied in Paris, London and Berlin.

Neil Fleming

Senior Principal (London)

Neil Fleming is a member of the EMEA Infrastructure and Natural Resources team and has been with Ontario Teachers' since 2005. He relocated from Toronto to London in 2015, and was involved in the acquisitions of Koole Terminals, Sydney Desalination Plant, High Speed 1, Saesa, Esval SA, and GCT Global Container Terminals. Neil serves on the boards of SGN, Birmingham Airport, and Koole Terminals. Prior to joining the Infrastructure team at Ontario Teachers', Neil worked in investment banking at Scotiabank and equity trading at Ontario Teachers'.

Neil earned a BMath (Honours) from the University of Waterloo and a BBA (Honours) from Wilfrid Laurier University. He is a CFA Charterholder and completed the OTPP Private Investments Board of Directors Program at the University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management.

Eric Hargrave

Senior Principal (London)

Eric Hargrave joined Ontario Teachers' in 2009 and has more than 17 years of principal investing, investment banking and accounting experience. He relocated from Toronto to London in 2015 and after nine years of working in the Infrastructure and Natural Resources team, he joined the Private Capital team in 2018. He is responsible for origination, execution, and management of direct investments in the technology, media and telecom sectors across Europe, as well as geographic coverage for Spain. Eric currently serves on the board of Memora.

Prior to joining Ontario Teachers', Eric worked in investment banking at RBC Capital Markets, most recently as part of the London based Power, Utilities and Infrastructure group. Prior to that he worked at Ernst & Young in their M&A Advisory group focused on mid-market transactions. Earlier in his career, Eric also worked as a financial auditor at both Ernst & Young and BDO Dunwoody.

Eric earned a B.Comm (Honours) from Laurentian University. He is a Chartered Accountant, a CFA Charterholder, and a graduate of the Institute of Corporate Directors.

Stefano Santarelli

Senior Principal (London)

Stefano Santarelli joined the Portfolio Management team in 2015. He focuses on developing value creation plans, supporting acceleration programs and implementing best practices across Private Capital's European portfolio.

Prior to joining Ontario Teachers', Stefano worked for 10 years at Bain & Company where he was a leader in the New York Private Equity practice leading due diligence engagements and developed strategic and performance improvement programs for several large corporations. Prior to that, Stefano worked at Procter & Gamble and Telecom Italia in their marketing department.

Stefano earned a Bachelor of Economics with honours at LUISS Guido Carli University in Rome.

Marvin Teubner

Senior Principal (London)

Marvin Teubner joined the London office of Private Capital in 2011 and has over 10 years of private equity experience. He has worked on a number of transactions and was recently involved in the buyouts of Bridon and Burton's Biscuits, and the investment in Lowell. Marvin serves on the boards of Burton's Biscuits, Lowell and Gruppo Coin.

Prior to joining Ontario Teachers', Marvin worked at Rhone Capital, a mid-market private equity fund, and Warburg Pincus, where he focused on the business service industry. Previously, he held positions at Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank, where he covered the financial institutions sector.

Marvin holds a BA in Economics and Operations Research from Columbia University and was named one of the 40 under 40 Rising Stars of Private Equity in EMEA in 2013 by Financial News.

Charlotte Brunning

Principal (London)

Charlotte Brunning is a member of the EMEA Infrastructure and Natural Resources team and had been with Ontario Teachers' since 2015. She has been involved in a number of direct investments, including London City Airport and SGN Smart, a UK smart metering platform. Prior to joining Ontario Teachers', Charlotte worked at 3i, Barclays Infrastructure Funds and Macquarie.

Charlotte holds a B.Sc. from the London School of Economics and an MBA from the London Business School.

Cleo Cheung Goodman

Principal (London)

Cleo Cheung joined Private Capital in 2011. She has been involved in a number of transactions, including: the acquisition of Burton's Biscuits, Flexera Software, Blue Coat Systems, Canbriam Energy, Hawkwood Energy , and the sale of Sonicwall to Dell, Inc. Previously, she worked in the Mergers & Acquisitions group at CIBC World Markets.

Cleo earned a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) from Queen's University.

Abhijeet Gupta

Principal (London)

Abhijeet Gupta joined Private Capital in 2011. He previously worked in the consumer investment banking group at Citigroup (London) and the M&A group at BMO Capital Markets (Toronto).

Abhijeet holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (with distinction) from the Schulich School of Business at York University.

Jacob Nowack

Principal (London)

Jacob Nowack joined Ontario Teachers' in 2013 and has been working in the London office since 2014 supporting the organization's Europe, Middle East and Africa Infrastructure Group. Since moving to London, he has been involved in a number of direct investments, including the acquisition of stakes in Koole Terminals and Bristol Airport. Jacob was also involved in the refinancing of Bristol Airport and Copenhagen Airports holding companies.

Prior to joining Ontario Teachers', Jacob worked in the Energy Investment Banking groups of Citigroup and TD Securities. He holds an Honours in Business Administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business at Western University.

Francois Stoessel

Senior Principal (London)

Francois Stoessel joined the Relationship Investing team at Ontario Teachers' in 2016, focusing on direct equities investments in both public and private companies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Francois has a decade of industry experience in private equity and investment banking.

Prior to joining Ontario Teachers', Francois worked at GMT Partners, a pan-European mid-cap private equity fund active in telecom, media and technology, and KKR, where he focused on European private equity deals in industrials and telecom. Francois started his career in investment banking at Deutsche Bank, where he was involved in a variety of mergers, acquisitions and corporate advisory transactions.

Swee Hong Yap

Principal (London)

Swee Hong joined Private Capital in 2014. He previously worked in the private equity funds and co-investments team at Allstate Investments. Prior to that, Swee Hong worked at Credit Suisse and Dresdner Kleinwort.

Swee Hong holds a BSc in Actuarial Science from the London School of Economics and is a CFA charterholder.

John Wolfenden

Principal (London)

John Wolfenden joined the Private Capital Group at Ontario Teachers' in 2015. He brings five years of experience to the role, having worked in both the private equity and investment banking industries. Prior to joining Ontario Teachers', he worked in the Consumer team with Apax Partners, based in London, and in the Industrials and Energy team at Credit Suisse.

John holds an MA in Financial Management from Durham Business School and a BA (Hons) in History from the University of Durham.

Filippo Damiani

Investment Associate (London)

Filippo Damiani joined the Relationship Investing team at Ontario Teachers' in 2016, focusing on direct equities investments in both public and private companies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Prior to joining Ontario Teachers', Filippo was an associate in the investment banking division of J.P. Morgan in London, where he was involved in a variety of capital markets and corporate advisory transactions across the Energy and Consumer & Retail sectors.

Filippo holds an MSc in Finance with distinction from the London School of Economics and a BSc in Economics with honours from Bocconi University.

Sarah Yates

Investment Associate (London)

Sarah Yates joined Private Capital in 2016 and has since been involved with a number of portfolio companies, including Synlab and OGF. Prior to joining Ontario Teachers', Sarah spent three years in Morgan Stanley's Healthcare team in the Investment Banking Division.

Sarah holds an M.Sc. Finance from Imperial College London and a B.Sc. Economics and Finance from University College Dublin.

Juliette Grognet

Investment Analyst

Juliette Grognet joined Private Capital in 2018. She is involved with a number of portfolio companies, including OGF and Helly Hansen. Prior to joining Ontario Teachers', Juliette spent two years in the Industrials and Consumer Retail teams at Barclays (London).

Juliette holds an M.Sc. in Corporate Finance and a Master in Management from EDHEC Business School.